The Next Best Book Club discussion
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What are you reading?
I finished Wuthering Heights. I liked it though, as I heard here, I did end up disliking most of the characters. Next up,
Fan Cultures
by Matt Hills. (I'm still trying to finish The Talisman. How can it take me this long, I cannot fathom. I blame it on being too busy with other things, and since it's a re-read, it just doesn't appeal to me at the moment.)
just started shiver (wolves of mercy falls)
I've been reading Conquest of the Useless by filmmaker Werner Herzog. It's his journal from the time he spent working on Fitzcarraldo. Most of his entries were written in various places in South America, and his feelings on what he saw and experienced are pretty neat. Occasionally he went back to the states, and those entries usually involve some sort of "gossip" about other big names in film in the late Seventies - Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, etc.
Jayme wrote: "How was mockingjay? I'm picking it up from the library tomorrow and am really excited about it."I really enjoyed it. While it wasn't my favorite within the series, it still kept you on the "edge of your seat" and provided an interesting conclusion. Have fun reading!
I have just started The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which shouldn't take long as its rather short. And then I think i shall read The Catcher in the Rye
Oh yay Flora, I love Jekyll & Hyde. It makes a great companion piece to Dorian Gray, which I see you've also read. I think Jekyll & Hyde is a slightly stronger book, because Stevenson is simply a more polished writer than Wilde is. But, I mean, both are awfully good.
Ruby - I wasn't overly impressed with The Secret History either.
I have a bunch of Stevenson I haven't read! Need to get into it. I was a bit sleepy at the time, but recently I picked up An Inland Voyage and Travels With a Donkey and was befuddled by the first page. Now I really need motivation to tackle it. The Master of Ballantrae is also sitting and waiting. If anybody wants to be a book buddy on these, plz let me know!
Half way through "We Need To Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver, who is a master of detail. Winner of the Orange Prize (year?). Superb writing skills.
Heard so much about that book, Vonney. And just today happened across a well-reviewed pop science book, We Need to Talk About Kelvin: What everyday things tell us about the universe. That title cracked me up.
I have to shake like a damp dog every time I think about that "Kevin" book. OOOooooh! There I go again. Creeps me out TOO much. :) I only read it once!
I had picked "We Need To Talk About Kevin" for a book club read one month and my friend who was pregnant at the time still holds it against me. Definitely creepy but I agree very well written.
Patricia wrote: "I had picked "We Need To Talk About Kevin" for a book club read one month and my friend who was pregnant at the time still holds it against me. Definitely creepy but I agree very well written."hahahaha! rofl - oh you owe her big! I can just imagine if I had been big as a trash barrel and encountered it for the first time. Trauma time.
Alex wrote: "Oh yay Flora, I love Jekyll & Hyde. It makes a great companion piece to Dorian Gray, which I see you've also read. I think Jekyll & Hyde is a slightly stronger book, because Stevenson is simply a..."I must say that I LOVED Jekyll and Hyde. And while I did enjoy Dorian Gray, I liked Jekyll and Hyde soooo much better. I think Jekyll and Hyde was a much stronger book, it didn't have all the flowery talk like Dorian Gray. And its seems so much more timeless than Dorian Gray. Its one of those that I can't believe I haven't read this sooner.
Ruby wrote: "Patricia wrote: "I had picked "We Need To Talk About Kevin" for a book club read one month and my friend who was pregnant at the time still holds it against me. Definitely creepy but I agree very..."Ha! It was her first child too. Whoops. : )
Lori wrote: "I am curious to know what everyone is currently reading.I just finished High Fidelity by Nick Hornby this morning and jumped right into The Town That Forgot To Breathe.
Strange book to pick ..."
The town that forgot to breathe sounds strangely interesting! Did you enjoy it at all or should I give it a miss?
Im currently reading Norwegian wood by Haruki Murakami. Its wonderfully written and Im certainly looking forward to reading more of his work. Can anybody recommend which I read next?
Ruby wrote: "Jayme wrote: "What a bummer about your book, Lark, it had such an amusing title, you'd think if it was bad it would at least be the entertaining kind of bad."I love it. I love all Sherman Alexie'..."
Ooh, I have that on my TBR....how about The Little Friend....did you read that, and if so, is it any better than The Secret History?
Patricia wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Patricia wrote: "I had picked "We Need To Talk About Kevin" for a book club read one month and my friend who was pregnant at the time still holds it against me. Definitely creepy but..."Nobody wants a Rosemary's Baby!!!
I would never have picked up the book either, but it was chosen for our bookclub who spent all Friday morning discussing it. I was only 1/3 of the way into it, but I went anyway just to hear what everyone thought of it. I'm listening to the unabridged audio version, and the narrator really does an outstanding job making Kevin into a real live being with her ability to mimic his mocking monotone voice.
I am on to An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear.
I just finished Sun Going Down and am halfway through the sequel, Come Again No More, which is a Goodreads giveaway I won. They bring to mind words like 'sweeping saga'. Good stuff!
Just finished Fat Vampire which was fun and a quick read.Also finished listening to Thirteen Reasons Why
which I would highly recommend, and especially the CD because that is the way the book is written, as the words are coming from a recorded voice. Great book.
Mod
I just finished High Fidelity by Nick Hornby this morning and jumped right into The Town That Forgot To Breathe.
Strange ..."
While there were some slow parts to it, it is definitely something I think people should read. It's freaky and strange, and kind of like a haunted fisherman fairy tale.
Mod
I haven't written the review yet, because I just finished it, but I wanted to go on record saying that this is a book I think everyone could get into. It's got a sci-fi feel to it without being sci-fi-ish. It's very cleverly written.
Finished the Hunger Games trilogy which I found, like most, to be a fun page turner. Also finished It Must've Been Something I Ate which briefly had me contemplating whether I would ever attempt to cook coq au vin (jury's out but it sounded interesting). Now reading Midnight's Children only 60 pages in so not sure how I like it.
Susanna wrote: "Really enjoying The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest."Me too. I'm over halfway through and it is getting really good.
The first quarter of it was a little slow with all of the background info but it is really picking up now and really hard to put down.
Ashleigh wrote: "Im currently reading Norwegian wood by Haruki Murakami. Its wonderfully written and Im certainly looking forward to reading more of his work. Can anybody recommend which I read next?"It's a little tough to say because NW is basically Murakami's only "straight" book, meaning it is pretty straightforward with no weird or meandering plot elements. If you don't mind tackling a longer book, I'd try The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, as it is his best-known and most-beloved book, and really a great encapsulation of who he is as a writer.
For something a little shorter, you can't go wrong with two of his earlier books, A Wild Sheep Chase and Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
Finished The Book of Salt. Kind of literary-trying-too-hard meets someone's-creative-writing-history-report*.*Heh, anyone remember those? I wrote a short story about a witch in the desert as my project on Islamic history.
Joycer wrote: "Just finished Mockingjay! loved it :) And Now I am rereading The Time Traveler's wife. Summer is almost over so I'm gonna try and fit in as much reading as I can before school starts again."BookCrossing has a post on MockingJay. It's free to join Bookcrossing,if you want to put your two cents in (pun intended)
Joyce, summer is over for me! I am a teacher, and I've been back at work for 4 weeks!I just finished reading "That Summer in Sicily" by Marlena di Blasi, and I am now reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter", which I am really enjoying.
Just picked up Best New American Voices(Fresh Fiction From the Top Writing Programs) hoping to find someone who came out of an MFA program who can write. Most top writers I know (including some who teach in such programs) feel as I do. Still, people need to eat . . . I guess.
Mod
See the book trailer to get a feel:
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/...
Wow, Lori. That was indeed extremely creepy. Is the whole book written in the five-year-old's voice?I just started the intro to Don Quixote today. Whee!
Mod
i finished An American Wife this evening. i know it got alot of mixed reviews, but i liked it.i started the next book in Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine. should be a quick read. i also picked up kate furnival's new book at the library, it sounds interesting.
I finished Dead Witch Walking and really liked it. It was just pure escapism which I liked. It didn't take itself seriously at all. Now I'm going to start To Kill a Mockingbird. I don't know how I made it through high school without having been assigned it, but that's something I'm going to rectify.
I took a sudden veer into left field, downloading and getting deep into We Need to Talk About Kevin before I'd really even realized what I was doing. This must be how alcoholics feel when they go to buy groceries and find themselves plastered at a strip club five hours later. I blame you, Lori, through a complex and imaginary chain of logic.I think I'll loan Kevin to my friends when I'm done; they haven't made an announcement yet, but the husband is suddenly cleaning the litter box. I'm sure they'll love it.
Mod
You, Lori! That creepy trailer for Room somehow reminded me that Kevin has been lurking at the back of my brain commanding me to read it. So, you see, it's totally your fault.
Mod
Lori wrote: "I started Room: A Novel today, and it is amazing in a creepy, confusing sort of way!See the book trailer to get a feel:
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/......"
Ooh, that does sound creepy, Lori. I'll have to put that on my list.
I'm reading
I'm only on page 50 but enjoying it so far.
After having a copy of Dr. Zhivago on hand for years, I've finally started to really read it, and not like I have in the past where I've started it, claim I'm reading it, and somehow it manages to find its way back onto the shelf. My mom actually gave this to me for Christmas one year in my early teens, talking about how it changed her life and how we should watch the movie together after I read it, etc. etc. It... didn't happen. But I do look forward to finally enjoying it now and being able to talk to her about it. And who knows, maybe at some point we'll sit down to watch the movie together - her in TN, me in PA - and talk on the phone the whole time. That would be dorktastic and awesome.Oh, and yeah. I'm enjoying the book.
Shary wrote: "I'm reading I'm only on page 50 but enjoying it so far."Didn't know there was a book called that . hahahaha LOL
So what are you really reading Shary?
I'm currently reading Ant and Dec's Ooh What A Lovely Pair. I hadn't got to the 2nd page and I was in tears of laughter I'm on chapter 10 now and I'm loving it. I'm really looking forward to reading the rest
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The Next Best Book Club
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Thanks Alex and Rachel. I've adjusted my expectations for The Passage downward. I got it today and the weird thing is that I've been waiting since it almost came out and it looks almost pristine and unread. I wonder how many people have not really read it and are repeating the cover blurbs- epic work of fantasy and that its "inventive storytelling, masterly prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction" ?